Posted
by
Zonk
on Monday January 08, 2007 @02:07PM
from the new-ways-to-frag dept.

Microsoft's biggest seller for 2006 (2.7 million sold in eight weeks) is certain to be a series we'll see around for a long, long time. In the immediate future, though, the game is getting a much-needed update today, with new maps available this Wednesday. The new maps are multiplayer only, and are entitled 'Raven Down' and 'Old Bones'. From the update: "Fixed rare situation where players could get stuck after chainsawing in multiplayer. Reduced Grenade Tag melee distance (Z: thank you!). Enabled 'Strict' NAT check on host to prevent possible connection issues. Optimized server browser queries to return results more quickly and prevent scroll bars from hiding quality of service icons. Reduced number of possible revives in Execution to match Warzone. Removed host name from Ranked match server browser. Disabled security cameras in Ranked matches." It's great that the game is getting an update, but that innocuous looking 'removed host name from ranked match server browser' means it is now even more difficult to hook up with friends for a Ranked match. Boo, Epic. Boo.

I would prefer to play most FPS games on my PC because mouse/keyboard.

I would prefer to play the games on my console, with mouse and keyboard. Sadly the only console I've ever actually been able to do this on was the dreamcast, and the only game I've been able to do it with is Quake, and it was a beta release so it's not very stable. I do have the DC mouse and keyboard though, and it is a wonderful and unusual experience. (Note: SmartJoy FRAG does not count - it lags.)

I tend to agree. I'd actually call it a hybrid myself (leaning closer to 3rd then 1st) but wouldn't call you wrong for saying its 3rd person.

Interestingly, I just can't stand most shooters on consoles. I tried this one at my bother in laws and really enjoyed it. I usually feel hobbled by the controls in console FPS, but aside from accidentally rolling all over the place I found this one easy to pick up and play.

Major Nelson has an interview [majornelson.com] with a designer for Shadow Run, which will be a cross platform game. He said they were surprised that the people on the console had more of an advantage than the people on PCs. But now they've tweaked it so that if you jump on a PC or a 360 you won't be able to tell if your playing against someone on a PC or 360.

"Boo, Epic. Boo."
The point is so that you can't have four people in the same room on the same team in a ranked match. Boo? Cry me a fucking river. If you want to play on the same team with your friends, play an unranked match, where the lag that this scenario introduces won't allow people to artificially inflate their rank.

I have to agree. People act like they can never play with their friends on GoW. I'm just glad they are fixing a lot of the problems that actually cause real disadvantages, like not being able to communicate with your team or sticking someone with a grenade from 5 feet away.

I just hope they fix the glitch where you can't stop shooting. Or if you are knocked down on execution and someone kills the last enemy as you are being revived then you can't move on the next round. You can shoot, but you are stuck to

Its no surprise they made it harder. A lot of features around ranked matches are set up so you can't call your buddies in and pad your stats for a ranked match. No join-in-progress, invites disabled, etc. are all ways in which live games have restrictions on them that keep your friends from joining. The seriousness in which they are implemented depends on how the leaderboards and such are constructed.This leaves to wonder if Halo 3 will have a ranked "couch" system like they did for Halo 2, and what kind

It's unfortunate, but this is the only way to keep the ranking system fair and unbiased. Despite Zonk's complaints, this is a welcome fix, as it prevents people from 'gaming' the ranking system by setting up games with their buddies on one side and players who purposely play bad on the other to increase their ranking. In fact, it's surprising that Gears even put the host name there before, I'm pretty sure that violates some Xbox Live guidelines.If you want to play with your friends, join unranked games. Tha

Don't you find it rather foolish though, that for a game that's based entirely around team based combat, you can't play ranked matches with your actual team?

Think of team based capture the flag in any professionally played PC Shooter... wouldn't you find it ridiculous if you went to a tournament and they told the members of your team that everyone would be broken up and play with random members of other teams?

I agree that they should do what they can to eliminate boosting and other ranked mode cheatin

I definately don't disagree with you, but they chose a very poor system of matchmaking for a game that is supposedly "team-based". There's no real support for matching with buddies and finding another group of people to play with.
If you did have a team-matching based game, then I agree it would be silly to do something different for ranking. What you'd want to do is ensure that you and your friends always end up on the same team. You can't really do much boosting when you're on the same team, usually i

I posted to another reply about this, but I dont' think you're entirely correct when you say it doesn't affect us when others are boosting. It does affect those who want to play the game and get thrown in with a bunch of boosters. Its another form of griefing, and you might not realize right away that's what is going on. It also hurts the community as a whole, since more hardcore players might not stick around if the leaderboards and "bragging rights" are dominated by cheaters. Keeping an online game co

I'm the anonymous coward from earlier in this thread, figured I'd go to the effort of setting up a real account.
I'm embarrassed to admit I never played Halo 2 so I'm unfamiliar with the system but a co-worker here was just describing it to me and it sounds pretty perfect.
As for griefers and boosters, I can't imagine that they're that big of an issue. If you DO end up in a match against them, you'll whomp on them, they'll lose rank, little of of your time will be wasted and you won't lose any rank for

It's great that the game is getting an update, but that innocuous looking 'removed host name from ranked match server browser' means it is now even more difficult to hook up with friends for a Ranked match. Boo, Epic. Boo.

Well, I suppose that leaves little doubt of what kind of player [gamerandy.com] Zonk is.

I dont really know anything about this game, but I read your link. Why is it bad to have all of a clan play on the same team? isn't that the point of having a clan? I've never heard of a multiplayer game that forced you onto a random server, and people thought that was desireable. The guy obviously cheating for the other team is a different matter, but I find it hard to believe MS would care the slightest about that! I guess I just don't get this whiney console mentality of the article. If someones griefing

I've nothing against forming a clan for a ranked game (or ideally ranked games for clans) they just didn't design this particular game to support that kind of game play in ranked games.There is no such thing as a "private" server, all games are played over Microsoft's Live service.

When the system is exploited this easily, finding a "clean" game can be difficult or impossible and is incredibly time consuming.Once you join a channel you're committed for 5-6 minutes. If you leave the game you get negative comm

Fixed voice issue with new players joining Player Match games in progress

This was the most annoying bug of all time. When you joined an existing match in progress, about 85% of the time your team couldn't hear you. You could hear them, but they couldn't hear you. So after joining a match with your friends, you pretty much had to quit the map and reform the game. ABOUT TIME, EPIC.

Pretty funny, 3 comments ago on a seperate threas you said "Achievements are too tough to get for most players" , I'm summarizing your statement. So basically you are a Sony fanboy, or you can't finish GoW on hardcore difficulty, or playing online you get your butt kicked ? Pick one.

Or maybe Gears of War just wasn't much fun. I much prefer to play Rainbow 6: Vegas.

You seem to be getting a bit over emotional and sensitive about something as trivial as videogames. I must be a Sony fanboy if I don't like a 360

I think gears is a great game, and i've had a ton of fun playing it through on each difficulty level (I'm not done yet though - just not that good!).

However, I agree that it isn't "fully fleshed out". It feels more episodic. The plot and single-player campaign both feel unfinished... but I'm okay with this. It means sequels, and leaves me wanting more, but with a sense of accomplishment. Compare that with a game you got bored with and never finished... I think short, polished games are the way to go.

I really liked the game in CO-OP mode on the harder difficulty levels. By yourself it really wasn't all that special.
Like many games, it revolves around the multiplayer experience. Your multiplayer expereince is pretty well determined by the people you're playing with. So if you're a "lone wolf" always searching for random games, I imagine it's not that great because most of the time you'll be paired with 12-17 year olds screaming/singing/incessantly talking into the mic.
Myself, I've got a close grou

You speak the (subjective, but I share your opinion) truth, but you will go down for it. In fact, you already have. I'll do my best to give you some company on your descent.The game is overhyped to the point where it comes very close to eclipsing the most overrated game of all time. The only people that don't know what that game is are the total fanboys for it.

I couldn't finish the game single player in GoW because I got bored witless by the end of chapter 3, and thinking co-op would save it I bought a seco

Exactly what ThinkWeak has said. The problem is that people are getting together on private chats or at each others house and getting on ranked games that way. When one person dies, they can cycle through the security cameras and tell his/her teammates where the enemy is. Any form of spectating should definitely be removed from ranked games. I think private chat should be disabled during a ranked game to prevent any form of cheating.